Tests of Time

[Galad J. Victus]

It was a dark and stormy day. The clouds covered the skies above, blocking the sunlight, shadowing the vision, while the roaring of the thunders and lightnings filled ears. Almost as if the terrifying weather was a reflection of the boy's inner spirit. Wild, uncontrolled, with no clear purpose.

His sword carelessly hung to his belt, his coat flowing with the wind which was slipping inside the cantina from below the gates, his eyes empty and heartbeat faded. It was as if all was an act. Such doleful things, bond by chains solid and unbreakable, forming a black order of events which was his unforgetable past. He had ran. He had killed. Fought. But what now? Through an entire universe he had fled, from a foe merciless and determined. A beast, he had created himself, forged in the fires of his lust and passion, he had lost so dearly to it. So deeply. He had lost everything, especially himself.

When, the boy wandered. When will I be able to feel the soft strokes of the kind wind in my consumed skin ever again? When the sun shall smile to me ever again, will the love one day embrace and forgive? Who was he running from? Where was he running to? Questions, awaiting answers. He knew nothing more than the whip of pain's wrath, not the wind. The scorching fires of punishment and emptiness, not the sun. The exhausting trials of the war, not the love. It had abandoned him long ago. The memories were the deadliest of enemies.

A hand grabbed his wrist, forcing him to turn and see a man before him, looking up to his eyes, his tear paintings, his empty flesh. A group of other vile-looking men were awaiting behind him, all focused on Asmodean. Suddenly, they laughed.

"Hey you moron, what da hell you doin' here ey? Where did you come from, a freak show? Check this out boys!"

The group bursted into a full laughter. A moment later, the sword was already unleashed from it's resting place, had opened up the man's throat, and blood was gushing out of the fresh wound. The speed of the stike was enough to turn the now standing corpse around, and stain the rest of the group red. Another moment later, Asmodean was already surrounded, blasters directed at him, swords and hostile eyes, while a sudden panic filled the large and crowded cantina, screams of fear replacing the art of the music band in the corner.

The fat and old bartender came rushing to the place. He had an innocent face and a beard, a kind man who usually minded his own business, who seeked no trouble by the look of it. His daughter and his wife were watching in terror from the otherside of the table, Asmodean knew it because he heard them talking earlier.

"Why did you that boy! Leave my place now, your kind aren't allowed here!"

Everything was silent, all eyes were turned on him, cautious, full of a hatred suddenly came into existance. All was silent. Just as he wanted.

The sword went through the old man's chest, as Asmodean held him by his shoulder and pressed his body further into the cold metal.

"I have destroyed nations for less."

He whispered to his ear with a nochalant voice as a thunder fell upon the ground somewhere nearby, a terrifing lightning and roar filling everything for a heartbeat. He whisperd to the man, now robbed of his life.

 

[Chairdor]

Hiro road into town under the high flying sun, but on his approach the storm clouds came. While many a poet and layman found the storms frightening and chose to hide in their homes as the atmosphere raged, the droid knew that every weather pattern was accounted for, from the smallest whisper of a breeze to the raging gale of a hurricane. Even in the darkness of a cloud there was a semblance of normality, a purpose for creation and its continuance, the scatter of water and wind was the scatter of life. As Hiro noted his bike was buffeted by rocks and mud, he also noted the small blips, the seeds they rode the rage and set forth on an adventure they had no say in. If they survived they and their species would be better for it, a new start, a new patch of green life perhaps taking place on a once desolate patch of earth.

Hiro's calculations and logics always went wild on long speeder rides, especially after a mission, this one albeit simple. He was to deliver a message to the place he already intended on heading to. Not one to keep secret missives due to the fact that they might contain details of treachery or the poisons of corruption, Hiro x-rayed the package almost as soon as being given it, clearly what was within the box had not bothered the droid much as he retained he had scanned the box but had erased the files of what it contained, a common courtesy to make sure the receiver's privacy was maintained. As the sky thundered above Hiro's bike roared below, the unimpeded speed slowed suddenly as he came across a fallen cart in the middle of the countryside. Stopping and dismounting he looked out to the flooding fields and noted no signs of any life nearby. Determining he could do nothing the droid merely pushed the cart to the side of the road and righted it so that if someone recovered it they could roll it away. Greatly drained of power from the effort, the droid was glad his delivery was in his favorite place in town, the Catina.

Parking his speeder out back under a small outcropping of roof, Hiro shook himself slightly, the excess of water not drained off him during the fast-paced riding clattering to the earth in tiny puddles. The droid stepped out into the street taking a moment to ensure all his gears and motors were still properly lubricated. After this session of maintenance he walked in to finish his job and take a moment to relax.

This however was too much to ask, for the moment he entered the droid noted the blood on the floor and noted the barkeep was the owner of some of it. It was unfortunate that the tapman was the victim of assault on this night as Hiro had been riding a fortnight to get this box to him with clear instructions to destroy it if he could not complete the mission. Holding the box out and crushing it in his hands, whatever was inside instantly shattering, the droid tossed the remains in a nearby fire and approached the bar as if nothing was wrong. Meanwhile the other patrons of the bar were all backing up to the far corners of the establishment, some slipping into the lavatories and some lucky few able to swiftly slip away into the sodden streets. All but one, a young looking male with a peculiar bit of head gear and bright green eyes, Hiro noted green eyes were an abnormality in human genetic structure, a rarity compounded by his pale complexion. The droid casually reached over the bar to grab a plug and found the outlet on his body in its usual location and slowly felt the warming sensation in his unnecessary systems, shut off in the long ride, slowly come back to life.

"Awww ain't that a kick...good to find a place to put my feet up," Hiro said nonchalantly as he did just that. As he relaxed barside, he turned to the young boy, his large vibrosword caked in rapidly coagulating blood and said, "You look like you could use a drink pardner," getting up moments after he said that he walked behind the bar and got a glass out, slowly but surely assembling a small virgin cocktail from a recipe he had programmed within his mind. As he did his eyes, hidden by his mask looked downward to see if he could help the poor man bleeding at his feet, no such luck as no heat signature came off of the barkeep. As he finished his drink and laid it on the bar, pushing it slowly to the pale boy he spoke once more,

"You seemed to be troubled,"

 

[Galad J. Victus]

Asmodean watched with caution as a droid carelessy came inside and sit by his side, paying no attention to two corpses and mass amount of blood by the look of it. In the entire cantina, only he looked unpaniced and confident. Turning his scorching gaze towards the other group, he stared at them with eyes devoid of emotions, and it was enough for them to carry the dead away and leave. He watched as almost everyone else followed them outside, old man's family crying and other merely scared, the cantina was soon in a deadly silence. Then he turned to daring droid beside him.

"Aren't you frightened from the monster I am?"

He was used to being alone. Being ignored. No one had ever asked him about his problem at all. But this droid, could suddenly approch him while he was murdering people, and talk to him. It was a droid after all, it probaly had no foul thoughts as the normal living beings. Picking up the glass, he drank some of the cocktail before speaking again.

"You are the first to approch me in this way."

His eyes overrun with a barely noticable curiosity, he could not feel any greater, he looked directly into his eyes as he asked his question. Hanging his vibrosword back to his belt, he leaned to the barside, drinking the rest of the luscious cocktail. He knew that the only people left in the cantina other than themselves was a group, some sort of thugs perhaps, in the far corner, and he knew they were watching him. He didn't care.

 

[Chairdor]

Hiro displayed an outward calm, though he knew if he was biological he would be in a cold sweat. Clearly there was something wrong with this boy's mind at the time. Hiro found it odd that when droids suffered such malfunctions, they could be recovered, their systems rebooted and all in all they would be useful again, controlled. Yet the same tactic for life-forms was seldom considered, though they didn't call it rebooting of course. They called it a second chance. He noticed the boy seemed to be enjoying the cocktail after he spoke to the droid. His words were frustrated the droid recognized this emotion, that frustration probably led him to kill.

Deep within him his logical core begged the droid to leave or hide like the others, but that spark of cowboy couldn't abandon this kid, besides he was in too deep. Slowly his hand crept up to his mask and pulled it off revealing his pale battered face, wires and gears springing outward as it attempted to contort into a horrific half smile,

"I'll make you a deal pardner, I won't be frightened by you if you pay me the same respect," as he revealed his eyes the red glow of thermal vision faded to the dark purple of the spectrum most often seen by humans. Again the droid lamented the limitations both life and robotics provided, there was no perfection in either camp, but perhaps that was why they needed each other.

"I'm Hiro friend and I see your mighty good with a sword, but ya know while the sword seems sharp on the pointy end, where it cuts deepest is on your side," the droid knew philosophical banter was perhaps not the best route for a younger fellow, but he felt confident the boy would understand his meaning, how he would react to it, the robot was less than confident,

"For example this revolver here," Hiro said patting his side to display the holstered piece, "In the cross fire of a fight it once clipped a small boys leg, that boy is poor and will never walk again. Now I have the ability and the power to erase that memory from my mind, but I chose not to. Why? Because that memory reminds me that a good shot don't matter if the target doesn't deserve it,"

 

[Galad J. Victus]

"I see what you mean."

The boy spoke slowly. He knew that his aggressiveness was high enough to be considered foolish. He knew how he needed to act to be proper, he knew how not to be a killer. He simply couldn't bring himself to do leave it behind him. It was the only thing which delivered some sort of happiness to his all but faded soul. But, he had to estabish control over it. And this droid, had simply excited some, trust, the word itself was almost forgotten. Maybe, he could trust him after all.

"Is this some sort of attempted offer?"

As soon as he finished his question, he noticed a man standing near them, to their right. To their left, was another, and three of them at their rear. Asmodean turned around, without waiting for the answer, and faced them instead. The man spoke quickly, followed by a silent pause.

"There is a bounty on your head."

The silence was deadly. The boy quickly understood this was to be a test. A test of trust. This event was to determine if the droid could be trusted, based on the approching action, the droid would either establish himself as an ally, or prove to be a foe. Asmodean knew that this was a test of time, to see if he could at long last open himself to the outer world. The incoming struggle was looking simple and normal enough, but in reality, it was grand. A speacial meaning was behind it. Slaying bounty hunters was a mere task, but slaying them for a reason. Only a handful of the wisest could tell the importance of purposes. It could change the history itself. There were spots in time, where all the flowing was decided, a stone to twist the water as one wished.

Although humble, this was one such.

 

[Chairdor]

Hiro was gripped between two distinct courses of action, he was literally of two minds as his central cortex's competed for his hands, his feet, his guns. Inside his rational core saw two dead bodies, this boy had killed, murdered, indiscriminately within circumstances in which self defense hardly seemed an issue. Meanwhile there was another rumble, a deeper one, a whir and a spark within the droids man that bespoke a different path. As the robots mind whirred with competing courses of actions, the world continued spinning and time kept ticking around Hiro as the boy asked if he was making a deal,

"I haven't updated my business protocols in sometime pardner, I wouldn know my way well nuff round a negotiation to think I could come up wit somthin decent,"

Then he looked to the gathered men as well as one spoke of the bounty on the boys head. It was true Hiro's purse was light as the job he had just attempted to complete had been stopped by the boy who stood before him, blade coated with blood fresh from the kill. However, Hiro's pure was often light as it helped to not pack much weight for the road. This task was harder for Hiro than most folks as he was made of heavy metals. So when he leaned over the counter deeply, and produced a small bottle of oil used for opening tough bottles, he drank deeply until he had a chance to turn to the boy and respond,

"I dun care if ya got a bounty, plenty of folks have bounties on their head in this galaxy. Fella once told me so long as theres two chaps in the galaxy, somebodies gonna want somebody dead," Hiro walked over to a group of serving woman and slowly shooed them closer to the door until they eventually got the hint and scurried out, "I do not care about a man's worth dead, I care about what values he holds while alive, so I ask you young man, what do you value...and why is life so low on that list?"

 

[Galad J. Victus]

The feel of absence and silence that the droid's question left on the air was unnerving at best. The tough group who still had them surrounded were standing still, for now at least, and the boy had to think fast, foresee when and how they would strike, determine if the droid would appear to help him, or even go on to unite with his foes, for his own reasons, or to perhaps get a part of the bounty. Something had to be done, and quickly.

"There is a stain in my soul. One forged and placed there because of the deeds done and words unspoken. It is that stain which struggles to control me, turn me into a mindless creature of the selfish desires. It is a sickness, a curse that I brought upon myself."

The boy's eyes seemed to narrow, as his hands softly stroked the hilt of the blade on his belt. His head, focused on the ground and his neck bended, enslaved by the burden of the truth. A whisper, filled his empty heart, whispers of the dead and forsaken, souls abandoned long before. Allies betrayed and friends killed. Causes corrupted and masses manipulated. Paths, paths which at the end led to him. Where all the voices united, he stood, silent and absent.

To honour the dead was a difficult quest, and redemption, near impossible. But to route this enemy which now threatened to take him as well, there had to be sacficies. By helping what his curse seeked to destroy, perhaps, he could still be saved.

"I am controlled, in a strange way. I wish to break the will of the slavemaster. I wish to pay for my sins, and"

"Enough of this nonsense! The boy dies, along with any who tries to help him! Kill him!"

As soon as the outraged words started falling out of the hunter's lips, the boy unleashed his sword, and rushed forward, like a spear cutting through the air. Barely managing the hit the tip of the blaster closest to him and redirect it, the first crimson bolt flew randomly across the cantina and exploded in the wall. With his empty hand, the boy grabbed the man's neck, who was both surprised and undefended now, and turned him around while in the same time pulling him towards himself, to be used as a shield, between himself and the other hunters. The man who did the speaking was already on his way to Asmodean's right flank, his blind side, and the one boy held in his grasp could not cover all the directions. He had to reach for his blaster pistol. But how.

Although the immediate threat was dismissed, the overall situation was grim, with four others now opening fire at the boy and his forced ally shield.

 

[Chairdor]

Hiro saw in the young man's eyes a deep pain. As he explained his plight, something akin to a virus of the mind the droid attempted to think of it in terms he could understand, as a droid he was always wary of hacking attempts, new programming, something that tried to damage his internal code, reformat his logic drives. What was always frightening to the bot was that if they had ever succeeded, if they had ever truly changed him, he wouldn't ever know. He'd be so completely changed that he would assume he had always been like that. Perhaps Hiro was a different droid before losing his memory and waking up on that rock, but right now in this moment and all those after that, it was irrelevant. He was Hiro now.

As Hiro turned to one of the men who shouted and began his attack, he noted the room was mostly bare now, bare of all emotion except for fear and anger. Droid's have a knack for noting the facial expressions of living beings to note their changes in mode, it is not suprising to see a life form exhibit several hundred emotions over the course of the day, sadness, disappointment, happiness, joy and all things in between. Though in those brief moments seeing the men draw there weapons, seeing the boy rush at the men, his blade still not dry from his last kill, he saw fear and anger, fear and anger alone also upon the faces of the men. There is no great evil in the hearts of living being, there is only fear, fear of dying, and anger, anger at those who make them feel that fear.

Watching the young man take one of the hunters hostage, to use him as a shield, he knew he had to act. There was only a moments hesitation before the other men fired, their triggers usurping their judgement, their hatred overpowering their friendship as they fired upon the man to kill a boy for money. Taking this moment Hiro seized forward and grabbed the young man and his captive and utilizing every iota of strength in his newly charged system he threw them across the room towards the door. Letting them fly he turned to face the bolts coming toward him, he had only a moment to shield his most vital systems with the extra padding of his metal arms before he was hit. Four bolts flew, two flew true. Noting the heat and intensity of the blasts he realized he would not be able to turn his body as the gyros responsible for that had been welded stiff by the blasts. With this knowledge in mind the droid reacted not by drawing his guns but by throwing two grenades.

A clunk resounded followed by a continuous hiss as the men became enveloped in smoke. Coughing erupted from the opaque cloud as the droid dove into the group taking two men down with him. Ensuring there was enough force in his blow to knock the man out, but not crush his skull Hiro hit the two downed men noting their sudden reaction of shock followed by a sudden limpness as a sign that he had succeeded in this calculation. Shots fired above him so instead of getting up the droid rolled in the smoke before bumping into a pair of legs of one of the frightened men, before he could react Hiro activated his electrified grappling hook, the sharp prong sticking into his unclothed leg, activating a wave of shocks the man began to shake uncontrollably as his nervous system struggled to input all the commands the continuous stream of energy gave it.

Eventually the man fell limp and Hiro cut off the grappling hook. As he stood the smoke cleared and a single man remained, not four feet away pointing his blaster directly at his head,

"Pardner...it don't have to be like this...this ain't your quarrel and it ain't your fight,"

Looking into the man's eyes he saw nothing, nothing but fear and anger as his finger slowly moved towards the trigger.

 

[Galad J. Victus]

Asmodean and the other man flew across the cantina, and his bone helmet protected his head from being damaged when he bumped into the wall. Quickly rising back up to observe the situation, than again croching due to incoming fire, the boy took cover behind the counter, pulling his blaster pistol out and hesitating for a mere moment to think if the hunter beside him was still a threat. Seeing that the man was unconscious, the boy left him alone and watched from behind his cover how the droid fared, ready to fire at any who tried anything stupid.

As soon as he gazed eyes in the combat, the smoke was beginning to settle, and a single man appeared out of it, ready to pull the trigger and end it all. The boy did not hesitated as he rose and acted, before the man himself could react. The boy's own bolt flew across the room and hit the man in the chest, and the last hunter fell, and embraced the cold touch of defeat. Asmodean, improsining the pistol back to it's cage at his belt, and the sword still at his hand, walked and stood beside the droid, studiying the scheme and the remains of their foes.

"Perhaps, you are right. It did not had to be this way. Yet more lifes lost due to my selfish behavior."

As he viewed each fallen man, his wish for redemption magnified. Following a moment of pause and absence, he drove the tip of the vibrosword into the ground, and fell on one knee before the droid, his head bowed and eyes focused on the blade bathed in blood. This was the tradition of a nation long gone, when a knight or a warrior would devote himself to a cause he believed was noble.

"Allow me to stand by you, from this moment, to a time when my sword would not need to unleash death and blood anymore. Once again, I wish to be able to feel the soft wind in my skin, and the joy of freedom, in my heart, and to see the chains which curse my throat shattered, laying before my feet. I give myself to your cause."

Perphaps, a decision too sudden, yet, his haunting memories and dead emotions, which spitted fire and unleashed poison, the undying quest for the cure the endless self-hatred, the feel of absence, he could not bare any further. He had been trying. And failing. On his own, he would never defeat the plague beast. He needed help. And to honour the dead. Could a murderer be possibly redeemed? A killer? Soon, he would find out.

 

[Chairdor]

It was over in a moment, but not just for Hiro, not for Hiro at all. This man before him, he had spent every moment of his life to get to this one shattering moment, he had drawn breath a trillion times over, he had smiled, slept and awoken alone and with those he loved, some for a night and some longer. The wrinkles on his face spoke of a long life, perhaps some fifty years or maybe less including stress, there was no common denominator to show age for organics, like droids they tended to replace their old parts over time. No level of replacement could save the man now though, you could rebuild an arm, you could reconstruct a failed liver and put it back in two times as strong, but put a heated bolt in a mans chest and suddenly all the medical knowledge in the galaxy is worthless. As he slumped to the floor his gun clattering alongside him, he looked at the droid with glassy dead eyes before slumping over, Hiro knew that the glassiness was a sign that the man had died instantaneously, most like from shock, but still the stare the corpse gave him sent a strange clip of negative feedback.

While many like to speak of the calm before the storm, the droid always found the calm after to be the most surreal. There you were in the wake of death and destruction, for the most part still whole, still alive and all around you are the dead, dying, and destroyed. How could Hiro justify taking part in these deaths. When he himself was not even alive...himself, even then he assigned gender when he had no ability to procreate, no inherent biological purpose. Left in the calm, in the silence of death, the droid momentarily forgot the young man who had saved him from...death? Not quite, but Hiro wasn't prepared to find what was for him when at last his systems shut down forever.

He listened to the young man in silence, the youth required no lecture at this moment, no advice. He seemed to grasp the importance of what had occurred. Odd that things that make sense and those things senseless can both lead to equal levels of slaughter. When the young man performed his first two killings, he did so without true reason, but when the men fought in order to restrain him, their reason did little to protect them and in the end many of them suffered for it. Motivation it seems, has so little to do with the winner of a fight, in that way it can logically be assumed, that only strength matters. Still despite this formulaic answer to the continual philosophical conundrum that brought Hiro's mental matrix to it's knees, the bot held out that there were variables and those would always fight that ultimate injustice. For in the end war does not determine who is right, only who is left.

Looking to the young man as he asked to stand by his side, he considered it. They were both broken in a way, Hiro's condition being a tad more literal. Calculating a response he walked towards the various victims of the unfortunate violence and picking up two on his shoulders, their fresh blood lightly dripping as he lifted them, he said,

"Alright pardner, come along and bring the fallen, put em on my speeder outside and well start to settle some thangs,"

 

[Galad J. Victus]

The importance of what he had just done slowly yet suddenly hitting him as he stood before the droid, on one knee, the boy took a few moments to gather himself. He was loyal, before the plague. But could he possibly stay dedicated to such huge promises? Would he waste what little honour he had left by trying to do so? Or could he possibly be saved still? All these questions, while stubbornly crawling around in his mind, actually meant nothing. They were there, waiting for their answers, the boy knew they were important, and those answer could lead him to the end of his undying quest. Yet, an obstacle was standing between him and his wishes. A black spot, a hole, which constantly brought darkness from it's open mouth, a wound in the mind.

"I do not believe that is necessary. However, I will do as you say."

The least he could do. Cleaning the vibrosword with some dead's coat and placing it on his belt, the boy repeated the droid, carriying the corpses outside slowly, taking a few pauses along the way. It was extremly fortunate for them that the storm had stopped. The sun was reclaiming it's throne in the skies, countless lances of light launched at the earth to celebrate it's victory. The people also seemed to be calm and acting normal. Obviously, fighting in the cantina wasn't a rare thing at all. Although he received suspicious glances as he appeared outside, that much was expected.

Walking towards the only speeder outside, the boy walked over it and placed the dead bodies carelessly, then pausing to see what was next.

 

[Chairdor]

The bodies were heavy on the droids back. He could lift blocks of solid stone with ease, but these bodies were heavy. Heavy with an unquantifiable burden. A burden of knowledge that they were dead and in a way he was responsible, in both what he did and what he didn't do. In his action, his inaction, he would have to find a way to justify and live with himself. Again the thought crossed his mind, simply erase the bad, remove it, then it would never exist to bother him, but Hiro knew to destroy this fragment, this grief, would only allow it's recurrence or perhaps send him down a darker path. So he carried the bodies and wished not for a lighter burden, but a stronger back.

He heard the young man speak and if he required breath he might have sighed at the words, Turning in the doorway as the young man walked past with his own black parcels, Hiro spoke,

"What is necessary and what is right are very often two different things,"

No drawl, no twang, just a simple robotic monotone brought this wisdom to light. After that moment however Hiro seemed to recapture a bit of his frontier spirit as he ensured the men were properly secured onto the speeder before getting on himself. Revving the engine, he turned to the townsfolk who continued on their merry way and among them he saw a girl, a young woman really, yet she looked so small with her eyes full of tears. Who was she, he could never answer, perhaps a daughter or a friend of those killed, perhaps someone who abhorred death of any kind, all Hiro knew was that he could not stop her tears, he had to let them run their course as he had his own course to run still.

Twitching his head slightly to indicate it was time to get on the bike, Hiro waited a moment then began to speed off with the boy in tow. He made sure not to turn harshly in fear of upsetting the grim cargo as they slowly moved out into the deep waste. Moving on and on past the emptiness, the uniformity, Hiro looked on as dust trailed behind him. At last he saw it, the small well outside of town he had passed before, an abandoned home right beside it. Coming to a stop he lifted himself from the bike and approached the well.

"Lookie here..down this well, ya can't see it but in that water is you lookin back at yerself," as he said this the droid shifted around the stone well trying different angles to see if he in fact could see his reflection, but the deep dark bore no resemblance to the droid, at least none he could detect.

"Even when you can't see it, even in the dark, were always lookin at ourselves, watchin our own stories unfold...different versions, different histories...even I...a droid find that my memory...some would call it corrupted, but I think of it as happy accidents when sometimes...sometimes two very different sets of events occur in the same time frame, impossible yes, but both sets often logical and plausible,"

Hiro hoped the young man was listening as his words reverberated off the thick black of the well walls,

"Our past is not solid it's as tenuous as our present and often as shaky as our future...I mean...I don't even have a past past a few months ago, but that's not the point...the point is pardner, is that you need to stop lookin down the well,"

At this point Hiro stepped away from the well both literally and metaphorically as he continued,

"You will never truly see yourself or know yourself looking into the dark like that...your reflection is there, but...it might as well not be. So what can we do?" Hiro lifted two of the bodies from his bike and took a shovel from a nearby shed, "We do what is right, we bury our mistakes, give the respect of grief and memory and move on,"

With that the droid spoke no more as he swiftly cranked the shovel digging one hole, then two, then three, then a final fourth, all symmetric, all wide and deep enough to bear the vessels of souls lost. Lifting the bodies gingerly, one by one, he lowered them into the holes and stepped back to view them, some looked peaceful, others scared, some angry, all looked dead. Looking to the young man, he dug one more time, threw a bit of dirt on the first man, then handed him the shovel.

"Sometimes, that which is necessary and that which is right, coincide."